T'eo of ND might have made UP story of dead girlfriend....

UPDATE: Here is Te'o's statement, that was first published by ESPN.com:

"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her. To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating. It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life. I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been. In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was. Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I'm looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft."

If he wasn't involved he would have wanted to go to her funeral. Since she had no funeral...

I don't think Manti is lying and you all are jumping the gun. I remember when my friend Gandalf the Grey took me on a fabulous adventure through Middle Earth to the Misty Mountains and told me 'Mr. Gatsby, you a true playa, real talk, son.'

1) The guy is a famous athlete, at Notre Dame. As stated earlier in the thread, he could have any chick he wanted at that school. Or any chick anywhere really. Why did he have to search for love online?

2) As also stated previously, why didnt he attend the funeral? How can he say that he was part of a hoax, and claim to have seen her and talked to her?

3) If he wasnt being fooled and was lying about seeing her, how did he "fall in love" without seeing her? I can understand some people falling in love off the internet, but not some hot shot college football star.

All this leads up to a big fat lie on his part. It can only mean one or two things.

Either he was in on the hoax, for whatever reason. Most likely the attention and symapthy it would bring. It would add to his spotlight, which it did.

Don't buy this explanation. Why would he create a big mess of lies like this, when he could easily find a female friend to do a dog and pony show.

I don't know if you know a lot of gay people but I know of many stories where they are stuck in a situation like this. The last thing they want to do is call attention to the fake relationship, they are very smart in the way they create and administer the lie.

I don't think Manti is lying and you all are jumping the gun. I remember when my friend Gandalf the Grey took me on a fabulous adventure through Middle Earth to the Misty Mountains and told me 'Mr. Gatsby, you a true playa, real talk, son.'